Imagine that you are a stereotypically obsessed Trekkie. Would you just wet yourself if this happened to you? BTW, I bet those nerds could roughly approximate the percent of the Earth’s surface that is covered with water, in Star Trek IV.

The TMT will be the largest optical telescope ever built, said Scott Roberts, the Canadian project manager for the joint U.S.-Canadian venture.

“What that means in practical terms is its sensitivity will be close to 100 times that of existing telescopes,” said Roberts, a mechanical engineer based at the National Research Council’s Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, B.C.

“So it opens up a whole new regime of possibilities for scientific exploration.”

Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven’t sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

“The site, which will be launched on April 21 at the body’s Paris headquarters, will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, prints and photographs. The public will be able to draw on all of the material featured free of charge.”

US carmaker General Motors is joining with scooter maker Segway to make a new type of two-seat electric vehicle.

The prototype, which will debut in New York, is aimed at urban driving. GM aims to start making them by 2012. The vehicle, named Puma, has a top speed of 35mph and can go as far as 35 miles on a single charge. It will use lithium-ion batteries.

I like this “snark-light” from Carl @ The Reaction: “See [General Motors]? If you had started on this path thirty years ago, even using just one percent of your annual revenues, you could have been poised to corner the market on this kind of vehicle. Instead, you find yourself piggybacking on someone else’s idea.”

Also Joel @ : “It’s cute and I’d love to play around with one, but I sort of don’t even care anymore. All these interesting runabouts get teased, then never actually appear—or if they do, they’re overpriced and impractical.”

Here’s a breath of fresh air for those of us keen on the concept of digital democracy… “A digital revolution is turning the tiny European nation of Estonia into a nation of Internet innovators. Estonians have put their digital identities onto their national identification cards, and much more.”

Though not yet at the halfway stage, the project is already bringing the rocky underbelly of the US into unprecedented focus. Geologists are using this rich source of information to gain new understanding of the continent’s tumultuous past – and what its future holds.

“This story is, literally, stone age meets digital age: University of Washington researchers are combining the ancient art of ceramics and the new technology of 3-D printing. Along the way, they are making 3-D printing dramatically cheaper.”